Quantum of Nightmares Quotes

“Better get accustomed to it, she told herself, mentally adding a note to her checklist: relearn how to human.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“She made herself uncomfortable behind the desk, erecting her laptop before her like a GM’s screen in a game of Cubicles and Corporations.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“In his house,” intoned the congregation, “He shall return, that dead lies dreaming.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“You said a bad word!” Lyssa hammed it up, eyes wide and limpid, and cranked her tear ducts all the way from Flood Danger: Raise the Thames Barrier to Critical Emergency: Three Gorges Spillway Eroding.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“Did you not swap out your magazine for banishment rounds?” she scolded, hands on hips. The guard looked sheepish. “But you said they was expen—” “There is expensive and then there is needlessly paying for your funeral,” Eve snapped. An immediate ratchet and clatter of magazines being ejected and replaced signalled that the message had gotten across.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, dudes.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“The familiar rage was back, warming her from the inside out. It was the rage of a woman repeatedly ignored and overlooked, denied her due, mistaken for just another enjoyable mistake the morning after”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“The empire of the Pharaohs was old before Rome was a twinkling in Odysseus’s eye, wise before China had been discovered, and over and done with before our founding fathers came down from Mount Olympus to give us the Bible and the US Constitution—”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“Stop,” he commanded, and Eve saw in his eyes something shadowy and forbidding, a fell expression she never wanted to see again on her kid brother’s face.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“He probably wouldn’t give her an opening (Robin was a perfectly spherical branch manager of uniform density: he had no handles or rough edges for blackmail),”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“But the de-emphasized had the temerity to try to look after themselves in ways that resisted monetization. Their”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“Driving into Huddersfield, Mary followed the signs for the city center and Kingsgate Shopping Centre. She managed to shoehorn the Volvo into the multistory car park without scraping too much paint off on the concrete pillars, then led the fractious and irritated children out in search of a toilet facility, fast food, and some sort of bribe. “There’s a GameStop in here,” she told Robert, “and something called The Entertainer Toy Shop. Wouldn’t you like to go there after lunch, children?”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“To any old punks who’re reading this: yes, Chickentown is a shout-out to John Cooper Clark’s memorable song, “Evidently Chickentown,” a striking evocation of heroin withdrawal in small-town/suburban England in the 1970s and 1980s.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“They contained enchanted sigils, providing limited protection against extradimensional brain eaters, zombies, and targeted social media ads.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“Nope.” Imp sounded ever so slightly smug. “Wendy already tipped Big Sis off and she’s on her way there right now. I mean, she’s stopping here first to pick us up, but she’s already on her way to kick butts and eat nuts.” “You did not just try to distract me with a Squirrel Girl reference!” Game Boy’s tone was accusatory.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“Startled, she reached into the bag again. Another fortune cookie, another message: I MADE A BANDAGE BUT YOU EATED IT.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“Amy Sullivan, age twenty-seven, assistant Human Resources manager at FlavrsMart Branch 322, Chickentown,”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“Ten minutes later two SUVs full of reluctant churchgoers rolled away from the front of Imp’s family manse.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“—Yet how did they know to preserve their dead for thousands of years without cryonic suspension? And how did they build their giant pyramids, made out of stone blocks bigger and heavier than shipping containers, quarried from mountains hundreds of miles from the Valley of the Kings?” Obviously, Mary noted, empires that endured for thousands of years couldn’t possibly have achieved anything notable without the helpful guidance of interstellar white saviors—”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares

“The competition could offer a free pass from the risk of having their heads added to the PM’s decorative sculpture—or skullpture?—at Marble Arch. Whatever else you could say about His Dread Majesty, he didn’t generally execute his servants unless they really fucked up.”
― Charles Stross, Quantum of Nightmares